Student Accomplishments

(02/16/18) 31st Annual CSULB Student Research CompetitionGraduate Student Avery Amerson and Philosophy minor Christopher Laplante were selected to compete in this year’s Student Research Competition, which takes place on Friday February 22nd 2019. Avery’s presentation, entitled ‘Wittgenstein, Extended Cognition, and the Problem of Other Minds’, occurs from 12:00pm–12:20pm; and Christopher’s presentation, entitled ‘Do Idealizations have Epistemic Value?’, occurs immediately thereafter from 12:20pm–12:40pm. Both are in the Humanities and Letters section of the competition, which is located in CBA–140. An awards reception follows the event at 3:00pm in AS–119 (Anatol Center). Good luck, both!

(02/13/18) Outstanding Baccalaureate FinalistCongratulations to History & Philosophy double major and Honors student Richard Link, who was selected as a finalist for the AY18–19 commencement award of Outstanding Baccalaureate.

(10/22/18) Debate TournamentCongrats to Philosophy major Danielle Hyslop, who placed as a policy debate semi-finalist at The Las Vegas Classic Debate Tournament this past weekend at the University of Nevada Las Vegas. Danielle is a member of ‘Beach Forensics’, the Cal State Long Beach Speech and Debate Team.

(08/01/18) HOGAR ScholarshipFor AY18–19, the College of Liberal Arts secured five of six possible nominations for its HOGAR recruitment scholarships. Miguel Hernandez, who recently finished his BA in English Literature from Cal State Northridge, was one of the five incoming CLA matriculants awarded this scholarship. Welcome aboard, Miguel!

(05/19/18) Graduate Research Fellowship 2018–2019Philosophy MA student Christopher George has been selected as an AY18–19 Graduate Research Fellow for the College of Liberal Arts. George will use the fellowship to commence with his MA thesis on the normative structure of legal reasoning, and is being supervised by Prof. Nellie Wieland.

(04/19/18) Doctoral Admission, University of MinnesotaKylie Shahar, an undergraduate Honors student double-majoring in Philosophy & Political Science, has just accepted a fully funded five-year offer, along with a first-year Graduate Scholar Fellowship, to begin her doctoral studies in Fall 2018 in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Minnesota. We are very proud of Kylie’s achievement, and really excited for her as she begins this next chapter of her career. Congratulations, Kylie!

(04/12/18) Doctoral Admission, University of ConnecticutGraduate student Ahmed Alenaizan has accepted an offer to attend the PhD program at the University of Connecticut. Good luck on this next adventure, Ahmed!

(04/09/18) Summer Research AssistantshipThe results of the ORSP competition for Summer Research Assistantships were announced: there were 39 awardees University-wide, four of whom are in the Humanities. Congratulations to Philosophy minor Christopher Laplante, who made the cut! He’ll be working on a project with Prof. Cory Wright regarding the logical relationships among several theses in scientific metaphysics, from naturalism to idealism. Looking forward to hearing more about your research, Christopher.

(03/25/18) Scholarship WinnersCongratulations to Philosophy minor Nick Roy, who won the Ray & Marge Lancaster Scholarship in Economics ($2,500), and to Philosophy & English double major Jake Teran, who was awarded the Elizabeth Nielsen and the Minerva Davis Endowment Scholarships through the English Department.

(03/24/18) Conference Presentation at the MidSouthCongrats to Erik Rodriguez Cerda, who was awarded a Student Life & Development travel award to present his paper, ‘Moral ignorance and the impossibility of akrasia’, at the 42nd annual MidSouth Philosophy Conference at Rhodes College in Memphis TN.

(03/15/18) PIKSI AdmissionUndergraduate Honors student Monica Casares was admitted to the prestigious Philosophy in an Inclusive Key Summer Institute at MIT (PIKSI 2018). PIKSI is a two-week-long, all-expenses-paid seminar designed to encourage undergraduates from underrepresented groups to consider future study in Philosophy.

(03/14/18) Exceptional Student AchievementCongratulations to two of our graduating Philosophy majors, Crystal Jones and Jake Teran, each of whom has been lauded with the College of Liberal Arts’s ‘Exceptional Student Achievement’ Award. The award is given for outstanding achievement over the course of the academic career at CSULB; students must have earned a ≥3.75 GPA over four years and have graduated magna cum laude. Excellent performance!

(03/06/18) Outstanding Baccalaureate FinalistCongratulations to Philosophy & Political Science double major and Honors student Kylie Shahar, who was selected as a finalist for the AY17–18 commencement award of Outstanding Baccalaureate. Great job, Kylie!

(02/16/18) 30th Annual CSULB Student Research CompetitionYet another History & Philosophy double major, Richard Link, was selected to compete in the 30th annual Student Research Competition. Richard will present his paper, ‘Luminosity and its limits’ from 12:40pm–1:00pm. His talk is in the ‘Humanities and Letters’ section, which takes place in CBA–227 on Friday, February 16, 2018. An awards reception immediately follows the symposium in AS–119 (Anatol Center). Good luck, Richard!

(08/01/17) HOGAR ScholarshipFor AY17–18, the College of Liberal Arts secured five of six possible nominations for its HOGAR recruitment scholarships. Vincent del Prado, who recently his BA in Linguistics and Philosophy at the University of California Santa Cruz, was one of the five incoming CLA matriculants awarded this scholarship. Welcome aboard, Vincent.

(06/28/17) PublicationCongratulations to graduate student, Alex Beard, whose co-authored paper ‘HIT and brain reward function: A case of mistaken identity (theory)‘ was recently published in Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences. The paper—Alex’s first major publication—developed in part from his 2015 summer RAship on the history of electrophysiological research in the 1950s.

(05/12/17) UC Irvine Research SymposiumCongratulations to another of our undergraduate Honors students, Jacee Cantler, whose paper was accepted for presentation at the 2nd annual UC Irvine Social Justice Research Symposium. The symposium takes place on Friday May 19th from 9:00am–4:00pm in Room #112 of Social Ecology I on the UC Irvine campus.

(04/27/17) Exceptional Student AchievementCongratulations to two of our graduating Philosophy majors, Jose Vera Cruz andNickolas Sackett, who were both lauded at the College of Liberal Arts’s Exceptional Students Reception (5:00pm-6:00pm in the USU Ballroom) for having earned a ≥3.75 GPA over four years and graduating magna cum laude. Stellar!

(04/15/17) Doctoral Admission, University of Colorado BoulderAlex Beard has accepted a fully funded, five-year offer to begin his doctoral studies in Fall 2017 in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Colorado Boulder. Congratulations (again!), Alex. Being one of the top-ranked PhD programs in the US with a large and varied faculty, not to mention a host of academic events and the gorgeous outdoor scenery, Boulder will be a great fit for Alex. We wish him the best!

(04/14/17) Doctoral Admission, University of MinnesotaCongratulations to graduate student Nathan Lackey, who has accepted a fully funded, five-year offer to begin his doctoral studies in Fall 2017 in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Minnesota. Minnesota was one of Nathan’s top choices, given their department strengths in Philosophy of Physics and Mathematics in particular, and Philosophy of Science more generally. Good luck, Nathan!

(03/30/17) Doctoral Admission, University of California San DiegoCongratulations to graduate student Andrew Bollhagen, who has accepted a five-year SEED Fellowship to begin his doctoral studies in Fall 2017 in the Department of Philosophy at the University of California San Diego. Being one a top-20 ranked PhD program in the US, with many internationally renown faculty, Andrew will be in very good hands. We wish him the best as he continues on to much bigger and better things!

(03/15/17) Masters Admission, San Diego State UniversityUndergraduate and former president of the Student Philosophy Association Jessica Stroke will begin a 60-unit Masters of Science degree in School Counseling this coming Fall 2017. The program has a research and data-oriented emphasis on social justice. Good luck, Jessica! We wish you the best in continuing your education at SDSU.

(02/28/17) Dean’s List of Graduating Masters StudentsThe College of Liberal Arts has announced that Philosophy MA student Alex Beard is one of eight students to receive the Dean’s List award for AY16–17. (nb: The number of awardees from each college is limited to 1% of the overall number of students pursuing a Masters degree.) Congratulations, Alex, this is a well-deserved honor.

(02/28/17) Iris Marion Young Fellowship, PIKSI RockCongratulations to undergraduate Honors student Kylie Shahar, who was awarded an Iris Marion Young Fellowship to attend the prestigious Philosophy in an Inclusive Key Summer Institute (PIKSI 2017) at Penn State. PIKSI is a two-week-long, all-expenses-paid seminar designed to encourage undergraduates from underrepresented groups to consider future study in Philosophy. The seminar will take place at the Rock Ethics Institute at Penn State. See the PIKSI 2017 flyer for more information.

(02/17/17) 29th Annual CSULB Student Research SymposiumAnother graduate student in Philosophy was selected to compete in the 29th Annual Student Research Symposium. Vannessa Malabanan will present her paper, ‘Rule‐Following Paradox Remains Unsolved, But We Get On Anyway’ from 11:10am to 11:30am. Vanessa’s talk is in the ‘Humanities and Letters‘ section, which takes place in CBA–122 on Friday, February 17, 2017. An Awards Reception immediately follows the symposium in AS–119 (Anatol Center).

UPDATE: Vanessa took first place in the Humanities & Letters category, and will now go on to compete at the 31st annual statewide CSU competition, which is being held on April 28th–29th at Cal State Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. Way to go, Vanessa!

(01/27/17) Masters Admission, San Francisco State UniversityCongratulations to undergraduate student Robbie Brown, who was admitted to the MA program in Philosophy at San Francisco State University for 2017. Congratulations, Robbie, on this accomplishment! We wish you the best in continuing your education in Philosophy.

(11/07/16) Inaugural CSULB Graduate Research ConferenceTwo graduate students in Philosophy were selected to present at CSULB’s 1st Annual Graduate Research Conference. Ryan Shaver presented his paper, ‘Reductionist vs. Connectionist Methods for ‘Knowing How,” followed by Alex Beard, who presented his paper, ‘Event Segmentation and the Epistemic Conception of Mechanistic Explanation’.

(10/14/16) 2016 MSB Essay CompetitionGraduate student Vanessa Malabanan has been notified that her paper, ‘Mixed inferences: not a problem for pluralism about truth’, was one of the top ten best submissions to the annual Missing Shade of Blue (MSOB) essay competition, sponsored by the University of Edinburgh. You can read more about this year’s ten best papers, and the competition more generally, on the MSOB fb page. Congratulations Vanessa!

(08/01/16) Book Review in Philosophy in ReviewCongratulations to graduate student Nathan Lackey, whose co-authored review of María de Paz & Robert DiSalle (eds.) Poincaré, Philosopher of Science: Problems and Perspectives was published in volume 36 issue 4 of the journal Philosophy in Review.

(07/01/16) Pre-Doctoral Research Position in Philosophy of NeuroscienceGraduate student Andrew Bollhagen was selected to become a Pre-doctoral Research Associate in Philosophy of Neuroscience for this coming AY16–17. Andrew will work directly with Prof. John Bickle at Mississippi State University and at the Jackson Medical Center on various projects, including the SEP entry on Philosophy of Neuroscience. Congratulations Andrew!

(06/01/16) ScholarshipCongratulations to graduate student Nathan Lackey, who recently awarded with a $500 academic scholarship from the Ventura chapter of the Optimist Club, ‘in recognition for outstanding scholarship and community service with an attitude exemplifying the spirit of optimism’.

(04/12/16) Doctoral Admission, University of RochesterCongratulations to undergraduate student Rafael Perez, who recently accepted a fully-funded offer to begin his doctoral studies this Fall 2016 in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Rochester. Congratulations, Rafael! Rochester’s PhD program is a well-regarded, top-50 ranked program with many excellent faculty. We wish Rafael the best as he continues on to bigger and better things!

(03/17/16) UW Conference PresentationCongratulations to graduate student Alex Beard, whose paper ‘Brain reward function and HIT: a case of mistaken identity (theory)’ was accepted for presentation at the Values in Science Conference at the University of Washington this past weekend. Alex was also supported by a Project HOGAR Graduate Student Travel Award.

(03/02/16) 28th Annual CSULB Student Research SymposiumTwo graduate students in Philosophy were selected to compete in the 28th Annual Student Research Symposium. Nathan Lackey will present his paper, ‘Congruence, geometry, and space’ from 12:10pm to 12:30pm, and Alex Beard will present his paper, ‘Brain reward function and HIT: a case of mistaken identity (theory)’ from 1:10pm to 1:30pm. Both talks are in the Humanities and Letters category, which takes place in CBA–122 on Friday February 19 2016. Following the competition will be the SRC Awards Reception at 4:00 p.m. in the Anatol Center (AS–119).

UPDATE: Alex Beard and Nathan Lackey placed among the top three winners in the Humanities & Letters category of the University’s annual Student Research Symposium. For the list of all winners in all categories, see here.

(05/15/15) Graduate Research Fellowship 2015–2016Philosophy MA student Nathan Lackey has been selected as the recipient of the AY15–16 Graduate Research Fellowship for the College of Liberal Arts. The University awards one GRF per college per year, making this quite an honor for both Nathan and the Department of Philosophy (also noteworthy is that Nathan is our program’s third GRF winner in the last five years). Nathan will be working with Prof. Cory Wright on a project in the epistemology of geometry—specifically, on the philosophical implications of the theory of general relativity for Poincaré’s conventionalism.

(05/07/15) Doctoral Admission, University of KansasCongratulations to graduate student Kevin Watson, who recently accepted a fully-funded offer to begin his doctoral studies this FA15 in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Kansas. We wish Kevin the best as he continues on to bigger and better things!

(04/18/15) Graduate Student Summer RAshipGraduate student Alex Beard has won a highly competitive and prestigious 2015 CSULB Student Summer Research Award. Out of university-wide 116 applicants, Alex’s application was one of 37 selected. He’ll be working on a project with Prof. Cory Wright regarding the history of scientific research on electrophysiology and psychopharmacology.

UPDATE: Christian took first place in the Humanities and Letters category, and will now go on to compete at the statewide CSU competition in May. Excellent job, Christian!

(10/15/14) Book Review in Philosophical QuarterlyCongratulations to graduate student Emily Barrett, whose co-authored review of Lisa Bortolotti’s Delusions and Other Irrational Beliefs will be published in volume 65 of the journal Philosophical Quarterly.

(05/03/14) AAPP Conference PresentationAs part of her GRF, Emily Barrett is traveling to New York to present her paper, ‘Clinical implications of conversational implicature’, at the 19th annual meeting of the Association for the Advancement of Philosophy and Psychiatry. Go Emily!

(03/14/18) Exceptional Student AwardCongratulations to Philosophy and Biochemistry double major Joshua Feng, who was lauded with the College of Liberal Arts’s ‘Exceptional Student Achievement’ Award. The award is given for outstanding achievement over the course of the academic career at CSULB; students must have earned a ≥3.75 GPA over four years and have graduated magna cum laude. Way to go, Josh!

(04/24/14) Conference PresentationKevin Watson is presenting his paper, ‘Tracing and offloading: a neo-Lockean reply to Johnston’ at the 8th annual Dutch Philosophers’ Rally: Selves and Persons at Radbound Universiteit Nijmegen in The Netherlands. Kevin also received a Rally Travel Grant to boot—excellent!

(04/16/14) APA CommentaryEmily Barrett will be in San Diego this week, commenting on Prof. Michael Goerger’s paper, ‘Friendship and the ethics of social technology’, at the 88th annual meeting of the Pacific Division of the American Philosophical Association. Good luck, Emily!

(04/15/14) Graduate Student Summer RAshipGraduate student Christian Weede has won a 2014 CSULB Student Summer Research Award. He’ll be working on a project with Dr. Charles Wallis in epistemology on the topic of know-how. Congratulations, Christian!

(04/08/14) Doctoral Admission, University of WisconsinCongratulations to graduate student Emily Barrett, who recently accepted a fully-funded offer to begin her doctoral studies this Fall 2014 in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Wisconsin. Congratulations, Emily! Wisconsin’s PhD program is one of the top-30 ranked programs in the country, with many excellent faculty. We wish Emily the best as she continues on to much bigger and better things!

(04/01/14) Law School AdmissionPhilosophy BA student Robert Garsson has been admitted to Northwestern School of Law, beginning FA14. Congratulations, Rob, we wish you the best in this endeavor!

UPDATE: Rob has just graduated from Northwestern in SP17 with the Juris Doctorate. No biggie.

(03/08/14) Dean’s List of Graduating Masters StudentsThe College of Liberal Arts has announced that Philosophy MA student Emily Barrett is one of eight students to receive the Dean’s List award for AY13–14. (nb: The number of awardees from each college is limited to 1% of the overall number of students pursuing a Masters degree.) Congratulations, Emily!

(02/21/14) 26th Annual CSULB Student Research SymposiumKevin Watson was selected to present his paper, ‘When is an organism an altruist?’, at the 26th Annual Student Research Symposium. Kevin took home second place for outstanding research in Humanities and Letters. Excellent job, Kevin!

(01/24/14) Conference PresentationJames Cool‘s paper, ‘Doxastic control and the practical/theoretical distinction’, was accepted for presentation at the 38th annual MidSouth Philosophy Conference at Rhodes College in Memphis TN on February 21–22. The MidSouth is an important regional professional conference, with hundreds of submissions each year. James will also be giving a dry run of his talk on Thursday March 6th in LA1–308 at 5:00pm for the Student Philosophy Association. Come hear James’s talk!

(05/20/13) Graduate Research Fellowship 2013–2014Philosophy MA student Emily Barrett has been selected as the recipient of the AY13–14 Graduate Research Fellowship for the College of Liberal Arts. The University awards one GRF per college per year, making this quite an honor for both Emily and the Department of Philosophy (Emily is our program’s second GRF winner in the last three years). Emily will be working with Prof. Cory Wright on a project scrutinizing the doxastic conception of delusions in philosophy of psychiatry.

(05/01/13) Phi Beta KappaCongratulations to Joshua Feng, a double Honors double major in Philosophy & Biochemistry, who was lauded as an inductee into Phi Beta Kappa, Member in Course.

(04/15/13) Doctoral Admission, University of ConnecticutCongratulations to undergraduate student Emma Björngard, who accepted an offer to start her doctoral studies this FA13 in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Connecticut. UConn happens to be one of the strongest doctoral programs in the world for philosophical logic and is among the top-35 doctoral programs in the US, with big plans to grow their faculty and graduate program. Good luck, Emma, and congrats!

(04/01/13) Law School AdmissionPhilosophy MA student Neil Richmond has been admitted to Loyola School of Law, beginning FA13. Congratulations, Neil, we wish you the best in this endeavor.

UPDATE: Neil has just graduated from Loyola, receiving both a J.D. and LL.M in taxation. He graduated in the top 10% of his J.D. class, cum laude and Order of the Coif, and received Honors and High Distinction in the LL.M. Outstanding job, Neil!

(02/22/13) 25th annual Student Research CompetitionCongratulations to Antonio Mendoza, a double major in Philosophy & History, who recently won second place in the ‘Humanities and Letters’ category at the 25th annual Student Research Competition. Antonio was one of 8 students from the College of Liberal Arts to win an award (out of the 34 students who participated in the competition). Great job!

(04/15/12) Doctoral Admission, Purdue University Congratulations to graduate student Josh Folk, who recently accepted a prestigious Ross Fellowship to begin his doctoral studies this FA12 in the Department of Philosophy at Purdue University. Congratulations, Josh!

(05/17/11) Graduate Research Fellowship 2011–2012Philosophy MA student Neil Richmond has been selected as the recipient of the AY11–12 Graduate Research Fellowship for the College of Liberal Arts. The University awards one GRF per college per year, making this quite an honor for both Neil and the Department of Philosophy. Neil will be working with Dr. Charles Wallis on a project in Philosophy of Cognitive Science.

(05/01/11) Phi Beta KappaCongratulations to Antonio J. Mendoza, a double major in Philosophy & History, who was lauded as an inductee into Phi Beta Kappa, Member in Course.

(04/15/11) Masters Admission, University of California Los AngelesCongratulations to undergraduate Honors student Rebekah Bonner, who was admitted to the Masters program in Library & Information Science at UCLA starting in FA11. Congratulations, Rebekah, on this accomplishment! We wish you the best in continuing your education.

UPDATE: Rebekah has since graduated from UCLA, and—after working on an NSF grant and receiving the 2013 UCLA Chancellor’s Marshall Award—is now a faculty member at the University of Utah working as a Research Data Management Librarian at the J. Willard Marriott Library. Fantastic work, Rebekah! (For more information, see Rebekah’s alumni spotlight.)

(04/01/11) Doctoral Admission, University of WisconsinCongratulations to Philosophy BA honors student and McNair Scholar Michael Moval, whose paper ‘A critique of external world skepticism’ appeared the in volume 15 of the McNair Scholars Research Journal.

(05/01/10) Phi Beta KappaCongratulations to another of our Honors students in Philosophy, Clinton Packman, who was lauded as an inductee into Phi Beta Kappa, Member in Course.

(03/15/10) Doctoral Admission, University of WisconsinPhilosophy BA student Clinton Packman accepted an offer to begin his doctoral studies this Fall 2010 in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Wisconsin, which happens to be one of the top-ranked programs in the world. Clinton was a McNair Scholar while here at Cal State Long Beach, and we wish him the best as he continues on to much bigger and better things!

UPDATE: Clinton defended his dissertation this past SP18, and will be moving to Miami to start as a TT Assistant Professor at Florida International University in FA18. Excellent, Clinton, we’re very proud of you!

(03/15/10) Doctoral Admission, Rice UniversityCongrats to Roma Claudia Hernández, who accepted an offer to begin her doctoral studies in Philosophy in FA10 at Rice University. After earning her BA in Philosophy, Roma took some additional classes while studying in the German program for her MA; she was also a recipient of the Sally Casanova Predoctoral Fellowship.

(07/29/09) Gilman ScholarshipPhilosophy & German double major Justin Barner was awarded a Gilman Scholarship to study abroad at the University of Tübingen in Germany for AY09–10.Benjamin Gilman International Scholarships are sponsored by the U. S. State Department’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, with the goal of supporting Pell Grant recipients who have been traditionally underrepresented in study abroad.

(04/06/09) 26th Annual CSULB Student Research SymposiumClinton Packman was selected to present his paper, ‘Clearing the confusion on consciousness: a study of the knowledge argument and its implication’, at the 21st Annual Student Research Symposium. Clinton took home second place in the category of Humanities and Letters.